Dragon's Gold (Gluten Free) | Bard's Tale Beer Company

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Reviews by billybob:

poured with almost no head, amber color grainy over carbonated taste. it tasted like drinking alka-seltzer to me i'm not used to drinking that type of beer. i'm not trying to put it down its just not my type of beer. i would rather have a o-douls or a clausthaler.

More User Reviews:

A gluten free beer eh,brewed by Flying Bison eh,I had to try it.Smells interesting very buttery with some medicinal-like qualities with a little lingering spiciness in there as well.Nicely balanced pretty darn hoppy for a macro-like lager with an odd graininess must be the sorghum odd but not in a total bad way.Very refreshing and different a nice change of pace here,a nice find.

I tried this beer because my friend is on the gluten-free diet and he offered me one. I'm sure that having celiac disease sucks for those who love beer. The Bard's Tale brewer was only trying to help when they created this but in my opinion they should keep trying before they release the next one.
A. Looks just like bourbon. No head to speak of. Lots of carbonation when first opened then none at all. No retention.
S. Caremel, malt with hints of toasted rice. Floral scents with a honey background.
T. Some floral hops. A soapy metallic taste with some caremel and malt.
M. FLAT. Like a beer tea.
D. Not good. This was a good try but unfortunately it's just awful. Maybe if you were to drink this ICE-cold and then slam it, it may pass but it's doubtful.

Pours an amber brown with absolutely no character. It looks like water with a few drops of orange food coloring added. The head consists of irregular bubbles clinging to the collar of the glass. This beer looks weak.

Smells weak too. I can best describe the scent as fat free yogurt. It smells like it was made with processed fake sugars and it comes through in the nose.

The taste is weak and has a little resemblance to beer. The only thing that ties it together is a mild caramel flavor but it is out done by a sweet cultured taste. Again it reminds me of sugar free yogurt in taste and mouthfeel.

Despite the poor look, scent and taste this one isn't horrible in the drinkabilty department. I can enjoy the slightly fruity notes and light body. However this beer also makes me sad to think that there are people out there who need this product. If I had to live the rest of my life drinking sorghum beer I would have to kill everyone... EVERYONE!

A - Pumpkin orange and perfectly clear. Minimal head development, and after five seconds nothing is left but a wispy haze. A swirl brings up a sorry cap that turns back into a haze in seconds, and a small amount of lace sticks to the glass for a millisecond before sliding back down into the brew. The color is nice, but that is all that this one has going for it.

S - Malty oktoberfest-like notes that seem sour and off, like a very odd version of Munich malt. Sour grain, freshly cut hay, weird rotten fruit, gorilla-cage-at-the-zoo acrid musty smells, and some sake like notes. I swear to God, go to a zoo....get within 100ft of the big gorilla habitat and this is what you will smell. Very odd, but not unpleasant...I respect it's uniqueness.

T - Sour metallic funk on top of old compost pile grassy moldy mushroomy nastiness. Foul at first, but at least it's unique. What seems revolting at first eventually becomes a mushroomy earthy brew to be appreciated for it's distinct flavor. It's still pretty friggin' nasty though.

M - Acrid, tart, and acidic with minimal carbonation. Astringent.

D - I think that it's a noble undertaking to make beers for those with celiac sprue, but some one needs to get this right. I will keep trying these sorghum beers until someone comes close to making a decent brew. This is my second sorghum beer, and i think that Lakefront is doing a much better job with their New Grist sorghum brew..

Note: Although this is absolute vinigary pisswater, I think that it should be tried for it's uniqueness alone. It is a very outlandish aroma in particular...I'm serious about the gorilla cage thing. That's exactly what this smells like.

Note 2: I think that the flavors that I associate with sorghum have the potential to make a very good and very unique (think shitake mushrooms with soy sauce) brew.

Dragon's Gold is surprisingly beer-like given that it's brewed from only Sorghum (a grain which is also used by Guinness in Africa) and buckwheat.

It pours a crystal-clear, light straw-gold body beneath an average sized head of bright white foam that holds fairly well before dropping; maintains a thin surface covering; and leaves some wide swaths of sticky lace at the outset of the glass.

The nose is clean, and delivers a pleasant fruitiness (that probably comes from the buckwheat, and not the yeast... it is a lager, right?).

It's light-medium bodied and crisp with a standard carbonation.

The flavor is well-balanced with a lightly sweet and delicately fruity maltiness that's balanced by a firm bitterness; and laced with some floral hops. It finishes quite dry, however, with a bitterness that lingers.

T: really sweet, with a caramel fruitiness of pears, apples, melons with some light spicy cinnamon. Light honey bread, dried brown sugar and dried fruit cake was also detected. Hard to describe the unique flavor attributed by the soghum. Some booziness (rum raisin) was found on the finish.

M: a light viscosity, was sweet, smooth with a soft carbonation.

D: Quite an odd flavor, very sweet for an everyday beer. a last resort only if your suffer from celiac disease otherwise don't bother.

I purchased this beer last weekend only because it said "Dragons Gold" on it and the fact it was brewed from "Bard's Tale Beer Company". Yep that was my only factor, I didn't even know it was "gluten" free. Infact this was my first shot at a gluten free beer and over all I didn't notice much of anything from it. Obviously it is for people who need a gluten free product, or atleast I guess some people cannot consume gluten. Ok anyways I'm rambling here sorry.

Look: It was a nice amber color with not very much head, the small amount that showed up was quickly gone.

Nose: Smells like commercial lager, it was hard to pick out much though

Taste: Nothing very noted, it tasted a bit "off" with lots of malt, finished clean.

Mouth: Light, went down easy and didn't leave any weird coatings

Drinkability: I bought the 6 pack, I am not fearing the rest so it wasn't bad. You could throw back a few of these and be fine. I know better now though and will avoid future "gluten" free products.

Ingredients: water, sorghum, hops, yeast. Must this be classified as a fruit/vegetable beer? Sorghum is a true grain just like rice or oatmeal.

Opening bottle hissed, pours heavily carbonated, two finger head quickly lays flat. Tastes pretty bland - slightly malty, but in a watery sense and a slight tone of caramel. Some aroma hops, body hops overpowers the malt. Tastes like stale beer with Marmite mixed in.. This brew was bitter, as in iron and cardboard... oxidized, except the bottle integrity was fine (in fact the carbonation level had me burping for ages... unpleasant). I'd blame either the handling or the recipe.. not sure.

Purchased from Wine Society north Nashua NH on 3 weeks prior to this review. I just noticed the bottled-on date is exactly 12 months ago! This doesn't seem like a brew meant to be aged...

If you can find this in a single, try it. There are so few sorghum beers.. and maybe the bad reviews are due to too much OLD product in the channel.

I wanted to like this so I could suggest it to a relative, someone who can not tolerate standard barley and wheat beverages. Still looking...

First of all I am going to jump on my soap box for this one. A phrase that strikes a bit of irony with this beer. Having grown up on a farm, and still maintaining an active role in agriculture I have had the displeasure of harvesting and handling Milo, commonly refered to as sorghum. The smell of this beer is extremely heavy and organic. The smell is exactly that of milo coming out of an auger. I was literally scared to taste this beer at this point so maybe my scores are skewed a little.

The irony I refered to is that of "soap". I opened this one and tried to pour it, only to get a glass full of white billowing foam. Not head foam, but foam like calgon mixed with seltzer on steroids. It took me 10 minutes to pour a 12 oz bottle into a pint glass to avoid having my own mini foam party in my living room. The color is golden with a hazy appearance. The smell, as I previously stated is purly grainy, all milo. The taste is horrible, it is smooth at first and then a putred bitter, cough syrup taste hits the back of your tongue and throat and stays there forever. Like dimatap with carbonation. The moutfeel is creamy but over carbonated. DO NOT TRY...this is the worst I have had.

On the pour, the beer sets in the glass a sunlit clear gold with the head a two finger frothy white that remains longer than I expected, lace a concealing sheet. Nose has a fruit like sweetness from the buckwheat with a mushroom like musky tone, not bad, just a tad different. Start has a sweet earthy presence; slight bite at the back, top is light to medium in its feel. Finish has a durable acidity, sweet and long lasting slightly bitter aftertaste, not bad, just a little out of the ordinary.

This beer caters to the gluten intolerant crowd. As such, it's a lifesaver to those who require such a thing. For the rest of us, I can't imagine why we would want to drink this, unless there just wasn't anything else around.

The pour is macro average, with a deeper color. Fairly thin head that leaves quickly.

The aroma is darkly fruity, like plums or prunes. Not much in the way of malt or hops.

The taste is odd. If you've tasted sorghum, then you know what I mean. It has a sweet "corn husk" sort of flavor, like the way corn grilled in the husk smells. There is very little in the way of hops and it seems a bit unbalanced.

The mouth feel is about like the average macro, with a little less carbonation. Not as refreshing or crisp as a good lager.

Overall, my impression is that this is a decent imitation of beer, for those who wouldn't otherwise be able to drink beer. Maybe, if you're a fan of wheat beer or fruit/veggie beer in general, you might like it. I won't be having it again.

Poured from a 12 oz. brown bottle into a pint glass. Bottled-on date of 01/11/2007 indicates that this sample is rather old -- nearly two years old, evidently.

Pours a deep gold, edging into amber. The small, frothy white head fades to a thin patch that sticks to the surface of the beer until the finish, leaving behind virtually no lacing on the glass.

Aroma is somewhat off-putting; musky yet sweet and toffeeish in the nose, not unlike that of a slightly fouled brew, but owing itself most likely to the use of the sorghum, as the aroma isn't altogether unpleasant, just odd.

Fairly light in body with a decent amount of carbonation. Flavor profile is rather sweet, with some caramel and a soft malt flavor somewhat reminiscent of that found in English ales. Harming the palate is a bit of a rotten vegetable flavor, with a minimal hop presence that is herbaceous in nature. Finish is very sweet and lingers for a short while afterward.

My first sorghum beer, and so the style is unfamiliar to me. Overall, not a horrible beer, and if not for the odd flavor and aroma profiles, would make a decent session beer as the alcohol content is low enough to quaff and the body leans on the refreshing side. Not too sure how the age may have affected this sample, and it would be interesting to taste a fresher bottle for comparison.

Pours a light rust color with a thick, wet, white head that doesn't last and tons of carbonation bubbles attaching themselves to the walls of my pint glass. Nose is malt and adjunct smells. I can only guess this gluten free brew is named for the mid '80s computer game of the same name, that provided me with hours of frustration..

At first this tastes okay, with vague malt but that's followed by a nasty streak of astringency and it in turn by nasty, roof of the mouth sweetness, like rancid molassses.. Uncool. Mouthfeel doesn't help much. Pretty close to a drain pour. This one needs some wizard magic, fast.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1/4" of light beige foam over the light amber brew. Head is quickly down to a thin layer of small bubbles, with average to good lacing. Aroma is syrupy sweet, with some vanilla. Taste is a bit more moderate on the sweetness, with a chalky close. Mouthfeel and drinkability are about what I would expect from a macro lager, so we'll rate them as average. Overall, to a non-celiac, it's an ok macro-style. But to it's core audience, I'm sure it's a godsend.

Poured a medium orangish color with a smaller sized off white head. Very sweet aroma. There's something there I can't quite place. Must be the sorghum. Toffee and caramel. Plastic beach balls. Sweet tastes (but not as sweet as the aromas. Caramel. Thin body.